Jake Spjute Paul Lesson Record/Reactions January 25

( He came late and I had my lesson right after so this is kind of short, but I did have a good breakthrough with him!)

We began with some simple neck stretches, rotating around one way 3 times and again the other way 3 times. Then we did some descending pentatonic scales starting on Bb3 on "a" we went all the way down to about an A2 and I could tell that was the bottom of his range. Then we did some ascending scales starting on D2 and we went all the way up to F#4, that was where he cracked and switched over into falsetto. We did another descending pentatonic scale starting on C4 on an "i" I noticed that his "i" was much more closed off and nasal than his "a" vowel was. So I stopped and explained about vowel spacing and tongue position. I asked him to do the scale again and it sounded the same. So I demonstrated how I thought he was sounding, then I demonstrated how I wanted the sound to be. I asked him if he could hear a difference. He said yes and I asked him which one sounded better and he said the second. This time when he sang the scale it was much better, more open and rich than before. However it sounded as if he was struggling to find the pitches, he kind of wobbled into them, which he was not doing previously. I stopped and asked him how that felt, and he said it felt good, like there was no strain or anything. I said that was great! I think he may have been constricting the whole time, but then when I got him to open up the space and think of the rose for his breathe onset, the sound came out rich and full, but the notes were wobbly, but thats great because he was able to let go of that tension, and he just wasn't used to the freedom yet. We talked for a little more about how vowel space works and how correct breathe gestures will set you up for success. I asked him if he feels like he is learning and he responded with a yes and a smile. So I felt really good about this lesson. I sent him the link of bruce ford singing the mitridate, to help him understand a little more about what we were talking about with breath and space.
For the next lesson I will continue with the breath and space exercises to get it into his body. I will also do more demonstrations because I feel like he responded sympathetically with those.